Feeding device for hay-baling presses.



H. A. msnm. FEDING DEVICE FOR HAY BMING PREaSSE.

APPLICATION FILE@ NOV. 25 HHG.

lPatme Feb. 26, 1918..

Henry .Masoiy.

\- otthis general type the hay is nennt" reason',

rnnnrne perron ltfflliblltl.

Y Enceintes-tion or" Letters llatent.l

nayvitnann,v inrirnors.

llleiteiitetll llielo., gd, llllilldi y Application filet?. November 25, i916. Serial lilo. 333,366.

To all whom it may concern.: i

Be it known that l, llenar iti. Mason, a citizen ot the United States, anda resident of Lawndaldin the county oit llegan ano Q t lll" is a i et l lflino De oiate o inois, nu. einventet i ctt j o vices tor Hay-Ealing ldresses, ot which the Afollowing is a iiullv and complete specitlca- Y and deliver it on to this tending table tivo men are usually required, who valli :dongside the machine and toss the hay onto the table by the aid oll pitch-forks. n

'l he primary object olf my invention is to gather the hay from the windrow, elevate and deliver it onto the receiving or `eediing' table by mechanical means, thereby dispensing with the services ot" the tivo pitchers or hay-tossers and consequently reducing the cost of baliiig the hay; the ineans employed vin the present instance also serving to deliver the hay onto the feedingtable in better shape and more regularly or in unitorni quantities, making it possible to materially increase the output olf the machine,

To accomplish the gathering and delivering of the hay to the baling machine by inechanical means l employ an endless conveyer Which is iirinly secured to the machine to travel, over the iield therewith at one side thereof, said conveyor being disposed in the line of travel so thatit may operate on the row of hay, or windrow, and is provided. with teeth which pick up the hay and elevate it to the proper height ttor delivery on the feeding table; the construction or the conveyer being such in the present instai'ice as .to ,insure thel hay `beingI picked up clean from the ground, carried to the Vproper height and freed from the teeth when it arrives at the upper end ot the conveyer.

rl`he particular construction ot the device or attachment and manner oli operation is fully Vdescribed in the lollowing specifications, and shown in the accompanying' dreun ings, and what l particularly claim as new, and desire to protect by yLetters-Patent is more specihcally set l'orth in the appended laiinln 'the drawings: Figure l is a rear' View device or conveyor in connection with a conventional. type olf portable baling press. l* le. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view, enlarged,

ugh the conveyor or :feeding1 device.

y improved feeding device may be ap plied to any ordinary type ot' portable baiing press which is adapted to be drawn over the ground lor baling the hay in the iield, and therefore in the drawings l have shown in dotted lines only so inuch or' the billing machine as is necessary to illustrate the ao plication oit the conveyor thereto. ln the ge eral type or baling machine to which my invention is applicable there is usually along body supported on ground Wheels torcon` venience in drawing the machine over the illustrating the application of my improved field; the billing-boi; being located at the rear end olf the body as usual and the engine or motor at the torward end thereof. Baling machines oit this type are usually provided with a 'feeding table, extending beyond one' `side ot the body at the torward end of the baling-cliainber and supported in some convenient manner.

Qin carrying out my invention .l provide for mechanically elevating and depositing the 'hay i'roin the windrow on to the feeding table and accomplish this by means of an endless conif'eyer, Q?, disposed in front ot' trie table alongside ot the baling machine and rigidly secured thereto so as to travel therewith, the conveyer being supported at its lower end a suitable distance above the ground by 'Wheels 18, and inclined at a proper angle with the upper end thereof positioned above the aforesaid feeding-table 'tor depositing the hay directly thereon and y in condition tobe ted by the operator into the heling-chamber. Y y

rlilhe. conveyor-belt in the `present instance is made up oit three similar sprocket-chains i9, across which are attached narrow strips 20 spaced a short distance apart and having teeth 2l` projecting outwardly therefrom to gather the hay l'roin the windrow and carry it to the upper end or the conveyor, the chains passing over sprocket-Wheels 22 and 23 at the upper and lower ends of the conveyor, respectively, and keyed to shafts 24C and 25 mounted between the side pieces 26,

26 of the rame of the conveyer. The frame which supports the conveyerbelt is made up of said side pieces 26, Q6, and connecting crossbars 27, with Haring side b oardsQS at each side of the belt above the side pieces 26. T o

increase the effectiveness of the conveyer-belt each tooth-carrying Strip 20 has hinged to one edge thereof, by hinges 29, a fillingboard or paddle of a width corresponding to the space between said strip and theneXt adjoining strip, said boards or paddles being hingedv to that edge of the strips which is lewermost when said strips are uppermost of the belt, so as-to close the aforesaid spaces on'the upward travel of the belt, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, thereby holding the hay in its travelup with the conveyer-belt and preventing wind 'from'blowing it off the teeth.

Asrthese boards or paddles turn at the upper end of the conveyer they also act to free the hayfrom the teeth so that it willfall on to the feeding-table of the baling machine, thls Y "operation being effected at the proper time by means kof reels or tappet-arms-Sl secured onthe shaft 24 to strike'against thek underside of the'paddlesand lift them, said arms working in between thetooth-carryng strips 20. The filling boards 0r paddles are preferably'made of thin material or thin boards Vand Operateby gravity to close the spaces between the'A tooth-carrying strips, andv as they make the turn at the lower end of the conveyer they will assist the teeth in gather- Y. ing the'hay and starting it up the conveyer.

As the Yhay, leaves the conveyer-belt it is guided toward the feeding-table byY an apron-board 32 suspended from a rod 33 Y'supported at its ends in arms 34 secured to and projecting from the upper ends of thel side pieces 26 of the conveyer-frame.v

The supporting-wheelsl of the conveyer are each journaled in a horizontal forked i frame 35 swiveled in a bracket 36 bolted to 1 able manner, it being necessary of course that the connections are such as to Vmaintain saidfconveyerl parallel to the machine and at' the properinelination. In the present instance I have shown an arrangement of braces yor connections which answer the purose consistino of rods 38 diver in "from 5 b g the upper end of theccnveyer-frame to the upper part of the body of the baling-machine; two pairs of brace-bars 40,41, converging from each side ofY the upper end of the conveyer-frame and connected at their lower ends jto a. transverse rod 42 secured on top of the Vfeeding-table 15 and a heavy shaft-bar 43 extending from the rear axle 14 and attached to a bar 44 extending across the underside of the lower end of the conveyer, the last mentioned connecting-bar, 43, servingfto push the conveyer into the hay row as well as hold the lower portion thereof in proper alinement with relation to the ba'ling machine and windrow. The transverse attaching-bar 44 is secured to the side pieces of the conveyer-frame by bracket-arms 45, suitably braced by metal-straps 46, whereby saidv attaching-bar is located beyond the path of the teeth 21 and filling boards or paddles 30 which trail. along in the rear of said teeth.

The conveyerbelt may be driven from any convenient or suitable source of power, either by the traction of the baling-machinc as it is drawn over the field or by the engine or motor which operates the baliug mechanism. In the drawings I have shown the conveyery belt as driven from the engine ofthe balingmachine. In this instance I employ a short shaft 4'? having a Spurwheel 48 adapted to mesh with a driven part of the motor and connected by universal-joint 49 to a short shaft 49a suitably geared to a driving-shaft' 5:2 extending` to the upper `end of the conveyer and geared directly to the upper belt shaft 24 by bevel gearwheels 53 and 54. By providing a jointed shaft as a gear connection between the baling machine and conveyer it permits of the required play necessary to compensate for any slight independent movement of the conveyer in traveling over uneven or hilly ground.

The wheels 18 support the lower end of the conveyer at a proper distance above the ground so that the teeth will act to pick up the hay clean.

The operation of the device for feeding or delivering the hay from the windrow to the'feeding table of the baling machine will be readily understood from the foregoing description in connection with the accompanying drawings, for the conveyer being attached tothe machine at one side thereof and in front of the feeding-table, and the complete apparatus drawn over the field so that the conveyer will pass in the line of Vthe windrow or row of hay, the conveyerbelt will be driven by the engine operating the baling mechanism and the teeth of said conveyer-belt will pick up the hay and carry it up` over` the feeding-table to deposit it thereon for the operator to feed to the baling-chambein As the hay passes up the conveyer it is prevented from being blown off the teeth by the hinged boards 30 filling the spaces between the tooth-carrying strips thus forming a closed belt. In this manner A the hay is mechanically picked up and delivered on to the' feeding table without requiring it to be handled manually, and it will be understood that the rapidity of delivering the hay is governed by the rate of movement of the machine or apparatus over the field and speed of the engine, which of course may be regulated to correspond with the working capacity of the operator feeding the baling-chamber.

l have found by Vactual practice of the invention that the feeding or hay delivering device will operate better in such in-V stances wherethe hay has beenv gathered in a windrow by the use of a side delivery hay-rake, but it also operates successfully when the hay has been gathered in a row by a dump-rake, in each instance the teeth on the conveyer-belt acting to pick up the hay from the ground after the manner of an ordinary hay-fork, and very clean.

The conveyer requires no attention after it has been properly attached to the balingpress and adjusted with 4respect thereto, and therefore the service of operators to pitch the hay onto the feeding table or take care of this part of the operation of baling is dispensed with resulting in a saving of labor.

in transportingthe machine or apparatus from place to place, or to and from the field, the conveyer is first detached from the baling-press by-disconnecting the power transmitting shaft and releasing the brace-rods when the conveyer may be lifted onto the feeding-table of the baling-press and in this manner conveniently carried by the balingpress as it is drawn over the ground.

Having described my invention, l claim:

l. A conveyerbelt for baling machines,

comprising endless chains passing over g sprocket-wheels, strips attached to i the chains transversely of the belt and spaced apart, teeth projecting outwardly from the strips, and boards operating to close the spaces between the strips on the upward movement of the belt, and tappet-arms at the upper end of the conveyer for raising the boards, substantially as shown and described.

HENRY A.. MASON.

Witnesses:

J. J. WILMERT, T. P. LONGAN.

Copier or this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner or Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

